


Comfort

by orphan_account



Series: Hurt/Comfort [2]
Category: Layton Brothers: Mystery Room
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fighting, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Multi, Post Forbodium, anxiety attack, mystery room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 04:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14253030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Lucy finds out about Justin and Alfendi’s past relations after walking in on them fighting.





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> No details of rape in this one, just references to the previous part.

It was a quiet day in Scotland Yard, or at least it was when Lucy first arrived. She was running late, only slapping on her tan cap as she raced through the building’s doors. She paced through corridors, up staircases, and passed countless rooms towards her destination. She threw Dustin a quick hello and a wave as she passed him. He was already wielding a broom, despite it being early in the morning. She sped passed Florence, almost knocking over her drip.

Lucy finally arrived at the ‘mystery room’, she was about to enter before she noticed the shouting coming from behind the door. Suddenly curious, she pressed her ear up to the door. If she interrupted, they’d stop and the Prof wouldn’t tell her what happened.

“I thought you would’ve gotten over it by now Al’, it was years ago. You were asking for it anyways,” a rough voice growled. It took Lucy to realise that it was Justin shouting at the Prof, now Lucy was extra curious. She knew they weren’t the closest of friends, but this sounded extreme.

“Shut the fuck up! You disgust me, Lawson,” the Prof shot back. He didn’t sound normal, the Prof doesn’t swear, Lucy thought. It must be Potty Prof! She burst through the door just in time to witness Justin slap Alfendi so hard his head whipped towards to Lucy. He was cowering in front of Justin, slouched over in a unnatural way, nothing like Lucy had seen him do before. He didn’t see her at first, flaming red hair shielding his face. His golden eyes stared back at Justin, gleaming with unshed tears. His own hand raised to cover the red handprint blossoming on his cheek.

“Wot is goin’ on in ‘ere?!” Lucy asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Alfendi straightened up as his hair began to return to its normal deep purple hue. The tears didn’t disappear.

“Lucy, I-I’m sorry I didn’t see you there,” Alfendi replied. He stuffed his hands back in his lab coat pockets. There was a beat, Lucy looked back and forth between the timid Prof and the angry Justin. 

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Al suddenly said. He quickly brushed passed Lucy and walked out of the room.

“Prof, wait!” Lucy turned to follow him, a hand outstretched. 

“Ms Baker, stop. Don’t worry about him. He’s just having a bad day and needs to let it out,” Justin explained.

“Aye is that why he ran out then?” Lucy asked, suspicious of Justin’s stance in their argument. Potty prof only gets piped up like that when there’s criminals about, yet she’d never seen him so hurt...

No sooner had she said that, the golden beauty that was Hilda Pertinax stormed in. She bore a similar look of anger as of that on Lucy’s face. 

“Why did I just see Alfendi frantically escape from this room with a growing bruise, Justin? And why aren’t you letting Lucy tend to him? Isn’t that what she does best?” Hilda unloaded all of those questions, the last one almost offending Lucy if she hadn’t been so focused on the issue at hand. She wasn’t the Prof’s lapdog! He can handle himself, although it certainly didn’t seem like it this time.

“Is this about...” Hilda started, trailing off and giving Justin a knowing look. He grimaced and nodded.

“Get out Justin, I don’t want to look at you right now,” Hilda commanded, pointing towards the exit.

“Don’t let her know, Hilda, if the Prof wants to let her know then he’ll tell her,” Justin almost pleaded, under his breath. Hilda scoffed. After getting no reply, Justin left and Hilda closed the door behind him.

“Have a seat Lucy, I bet you’re wondering what just happened.” Lucy nodded, the stress starting to chip away at her bubbly persona.

“This is going to get gruesome, and I don’t want this to change the way you treat the Inspector. Don’t take pity on him, he hated when I did that for months after the incident,” Hilda requested. Lucy nodded slowly, what could possibly change her opinion of him? He’s a strong man, mentally of course. 

“This occurred before Forbodium, it was the version of Alfendi that you’re not used to, the hothead,” Hilda started.

“Aye, when he wore his hair shorter, yeah?” Lucy asked, trying to picture it. He wouldn’t be the Prof without his ponytail, whether it be messy and red or tidy(ish) and purple.

“Yes, Lucy. I have photos of him if you’d like to see.” Hilda whipped out her phone and open her photos. She showed Lucy a photo of the three of them, five years ago, Justin, Alfendi, and Hilda. Alfendi’s hair hung just below his ears, and was flaming red. He wore a huge grin, matching the other two in the photo. His arm was slung over Hilda’s shoulder, leaning on her slightly.

“He looks a bit handsome there, Hilda,” Lucy confesses. She’d never seen the Prof so happy.

“Yes, glad you think so too Lucy,” Hilda agreed. She cleared her throat and began:

“It was one night just weeks before the jigsaw killings. It was raining, and Al’ showed up on my doorstep soaked through. His eyes were red, it was the most distraught I’ve ever seen him. He had a limp too, which put me on edge. I first thought he’d been mugged, but he almost collapsed once he stepped into my house,” Hilda started, Lucy was already on edge. 

“I guided him to my couch, there was...blood on my face, his nose was bleeding, and there was blood trickling out from the bottom of his pants, pooling on my floor. I- I don’t think I’ll ever forget that image,” Hilda stopped to wipe her eyes. Lucy had an inkling to what had happened now, she just didn’t want Hilda to confirm it.

“It was Justin. That night when Alfendi was about to leave, he cornered Al in the Mystery Room and fought with him, Al never told me what they were fighting about. By the end, he restricted the Inspector and had his way with him. I don’t know why and I don’t want to know how, but yes, Justin raped him that night. Al never reported it or tried to get him fired because of it, he still had to work with him. Until Forbodium happened, Justin tried to brainwash Alfendi into forgetting, it only half worked, as you can see now,” Hilda finished abruptly, not knowing what else to say. Lucy sat horrified. 

“You’re silent, Lucy,” Hilda queries, raising an eyebrow at the lass.

“I’ve got notin’ to say about that. Who would’ve guessed the- the Prof would be a victim of somat like that?” Lucy replied, voice weak with shock. Hilda nodded sadly.

“I think you should find him Lucy, but be sensitive about it, he doesn’t know that you know,” Hilda requested.

“Aye, right on it,” Lucy accepted before leaving Hilda to her own devices. She plodded through numerous halls before finding Dustin.

“Hey Dustin, did you see Al storm through here earlier?” Lucy asked. He scratched his chin and thought for a second.

“Uh yeah, Lucy. He headed towards the lockers. You know, for changing? The locker room,” Dustin replied shakily. Lucy thanked him and sped off in that direction. Why would the Prof go there? Obviously he wanted to be alone, but no one even uses the locker rooms. 

She reached the lockers and silently stepped inside. Lucy peered around, rows on lockers obscuring every passageway in the room, she would have to go through all of them to find the Prof. She listened out for any sign of him before she heard a faint sniffle. 

Lucy walked in the direction of the sniffle, to the end row of lockers, and surely enough the Prof was there. His eyes were red, as if he’d been crying. He was staring straight ahead, unblinking, like he hadn’t even noticed Lucy was there. His hair was doing the strangest thing Lucy had seen, it was changing back and forth between purple and red, placid and potty. He was slightly hunched over on the wooden bench, facing the wall of lockers.

“Prof...Al? Are you alright? What’s goin’ on?” Lucy asked, slowly approaching him to not startle him. He slowly turned towards her, his hair remaining purple.

“I’m sorry you have to see me like this Lucy, it’s entirely out of character,” Alfendi apologised. 

“No that’s alright, sometimes we just gotta let it out, right?” Lucy reassured. Alfendi nodded in agreement before hanging his head.

“I don’t want you to feel like my therapist or anything,” Al was trying to escape the situation, Lucy wasn’t going to let him slide that easily. 

“No it’s alright, I’ve done my fair share of venting, now it’s your turn because this sounds serious,” Lucy replied.

“I’m taking it Hilda told you what happened between Justin and I?” Alfendi looked Lucy in the eyes.

“Yeah, she were real concerned for you, so was I,” Lucy said. Al nodded and sighed.

“I’m just...sick of being scared. Of Justin, of the other me, of it happening again,” Al said, his hair turning red again, “the weaker me was only created because he wanted to hide his guilt, he wanted me to forget it. I don’t think I’ll forget it as long as I live, Lucy.”

Lucy noticed his quick breathing, he was getting himself worked up again, he needs to calm down. Lucy was kneeling in front of Al, she gripped his chin and forced him to look into her eyes.

“Listen, prof. I won’t be much help by saying this, but it’s in the past, and I’ll make sure Justin never touches you again. I’ve been working on my fly kicks,” Lucy offered. Al didn’t reply, he just leaned in even closer and pressed his lips to Lucy’s. She almost recoiled in shock, but stayed because it felt so right. He felt so right. He pulled away, to Lucy’s sadness.

“Thank you Lucy, that’s more than what I could ask for,” Alfendi finds the energy to smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and a comment if you enjoyed :)


End file.
